"On this earth there are pestilences and there are victims ... one must refuse to be on the side of the pestilence"—Camus

July 29, 2014

On the loss of Dr. Khan and Dr. Brisbane

He was not much noted in life beyond West Africa, but his death has made Dr. Sheik Umar Khan world famous. Via Al Jazeera English: Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor dies. Excerpt and then a comment:

Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor has died from the disease, medical officials have said.

Sheik Umar Khan was infected earlier this month and died on Tuesday at a ward run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the far north of the country.

Miatta Kargbo, Sierra Leone's health minister, called Khan a "national hero" and praised his "tremendous sacrifice" in working to save the lives of others.

His death comes days after Samuel Brisbane, a senior doctor at Liberia's largest hospital, died on Saturday at an Ebola treatment centre on the outskirts of Monrovia.

Losing people like Drs. Khan and Brisbane must be profoundly demoralizing for their colleagues. They were truly the best and brightest in their countries, and if Ebola can kill people like them, what hope for ordinary healthcare workers?

And what hope for modern healthcare itself? How do you persuade rural villagers and big-city slum dwellers that your medical knowledge and skills outweigh those of traditional healers?

The hot-zone countries might find it politically tempting to scale back their efforts and let the NGOs carry the burden. But look where that got Haiti.

The alternative would be to double down on science and medicine: to find still more bright young people (including the villages and slums), train them as far as possible, and then send them overseas for more training—on condition that they return to serve their countries.

In fact, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) might even launch scholarships in the names of Dr. Khan and Dr. Brisbane, to fund such training and lend their winners some prestige.

But such scholarships would be a waste of money if ECOWAS failed to fund adequate infrastructures for such talent: first-rate labs, efficient hospitals, well-trained technical staff, and at least one excellent regional medical school. Ideally, the Khan and Brisbane scholars would teach in such a school, recruiting still more bright and ambitious students from all over Africa.

Earlier today I posted a story about the clerics pondering the proper "spiritual response" to Ebola. Training new Khans and Brisbanes would be a truly spiritual response, and a lasting expression of gratitude for the sacrifices of all the healthcare workers who have died fighting this disease.

Comments

He was not much noted in life beyond West Africa, but his death has made Dr. Sheik Umar Khan world famous. Via Al Jazeera English: Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor dies. Excerpt and then a comment:

Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor has died from the disease, medical officials have said.

Sheik Umar Khan was infected earlier this month and died on Tuesday at a ward run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the far north of the country.

Miatta Kargbo, Sierra Leone's health minister, called Khan a "national hero" and praised his "tremendous sacrifice" in working to save the lives of others.

His death comes days after Samuel Brisbane, a senior doctor at Liberia's largest hospital, died on Saturday at an Ebola treatment centre on the outskirts of Monrovia.

Losing people like Drs. Khan and Brisbane must be profoundly demoralizing for their colleagues. They were truly the best and brightest in their countries, and if Ebola can kill people like them, what hope for ordinary healthcare workers?

And what hope for modern healthcare itself? How do you persuade rural villagers and big-city slum dwellers that your medical knowledge and skills outweigh those of traditional healers?

The hot-zone countries might find it politically tempting to scale back their efforts and let the NGOs carry the burden. But look where that got Haiti.

The alternative would be to double down on science and medicine: to find still more bright young people (including the villages and slums), train them as far as possible, and then send them overseas for more training—on condition that they return to serve their countries.

In fact, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) might even launch scholarships in the names of Dr. Khan and Dr. Brisbane, to fund such training and lend their winners some prestige.

But such scholarships would be a waste of money if ECOWAS failed to fund adequate infrastructures for such talent: first-rate labs, efficient hospitals, well-trained technical staff, and at least one excellent regional medical school. Ideally, the Khan and Brisbane scholars would teach in such a school, recruiting still more bright and ambitious students from all over Africa.

Earlier today I posted a story about the clerics pondering the proper "spiritual response" to Ebola. Training new Khans and Brisbanes would be a truly spiritual response, and a lasting expression of gratitude for the sacrifices of all the healthcare workers who have died fighting this disease.